Diagnostic utility of transabdominal ultrasound combined with Doppler in ovarian tumors

Abstract

Introduction: Ovarian tumors constitute a health problem in women, with a silent progression that hinders early diagnosis and shows a growing trend. Transabdominal ultrasound with Doppler provides information on the malignant potential of adnexal masses.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic utility of transabdominal ultrasound with Doppler in adnexal tumor lesions at the Manuel Fajardo Clinical-Surgical Hospital.

Method: A prospective longitudinal descriptive study was conducted in 47 patients with a positive finding of adnexal tumor by transabdominal ultrasound with Doppler, from 2019 to 2022.

Results: Patients at high risk for ovarian cancer through ultrasound had a mean age of 55,6 years (±12,2), higher than that of patients without risk (55,6 years, ±10.9; p=0.00). The main findings were central Doppler vascularization and a resistance index less than 0,5, both present in 70,2 % of cases. The most frequent benign histological type was serous cystadenoma (12,8 %), while among malignant types, cystadenocarcinoma predominated (59,6 %). A sensitivity of 94,1 %, specificity of 92,3 %, and positive and negative predictive values of 97,0 % and 85,6 %, respectively, were obtained.

Conclusions: Most of the findings linked to cancer risk were observed using Doppler ultrasound. From an histological point of view, malignant tumors were the most frequent diagnoses. Together, transabdominal ultrasound and Doppler constitute valuable tools to more accurately predict the benign or malignant nature of adnexal tumors.